An Artistic Challenge
by Kagome-reincarnation
Summary: Kira steals a painting and has an odd encounter in the process. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: The characters within this story all belong to writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata.  
Warnings: Clean.  
Summary: Kira steals a painting and has an odd encounter in the process._  
_Completed: January 20, 2010

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**An Artistic Challenge  
**by: Kagome-reincarnation

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"Perfect," Light nodded as he looked over his gear and layout for the night that he'd planned. Tonight would be a busy night. It was to be the most recent in a string of thefts by the infamous art thief Kira.

A final cursory glance convinced him that all was in place and he began to outfit himself. It was eight o'clock and the promised time was eleven. Ever prompt, Kira was never one to make mistakes. _Besides_, Light mused, _Kira's a perfectionist. There's no way that such a thing could possibly go wrong._

It was nine when he finally set out for the museum. The police, he noted, were already in place. A smirk came to his face. They'd been in out in increasing numbers for each of the warnings that they'd received from Kira. It only made sense that they continued to attempt to capture him – he needed a challenge after all.

_Not_, he thought to himself, _that they are any_.

Each time he'd visited a building or museum, he'd found them. The police, he was a bit saddened to realize, was entirely inefficient. Gradually, he'd decided to teach them each time he took an object from a museum.

The first time he'd done this, he'd left a note detailing how obvious the police were to him. They'd yet to fix that. The second time, he'd commented on the badly aimed shot that had gone off, injuring a police officer. He'd mentioned that a bit of target practice would be a good idea.

He continued his little hints and attempts to help, but he found that while some were recognized and corrected, others weren't. The police were still blatantly obvious in their attempts to stop him, and some of them still had terrible aim.

Light checked the perimeter that the police had set up. Then he went checked for all of the possible signs he could think of as to which formation they had planned to use against him this time. Grinning, he realized that it was far, far too basic.

He shook his head in amusement. This time, he'd already decided, he'd be leaving a note on the obvious preparations they made for him. Surely they could be more discreet? Still shaking his head, he checked the time. It was ten thirty. Light took a deep breathe, preparing himself for his role as Kira. Once he was ready, he began his infiltration of the building.

Within ten minutes, he was standing before the artifact in question. Within another five, he found himself engaged in a scuffle with another man, though obviously one not involved with the police force. The police force, after all, didn't typically attack before calling some sort of warning or threat and this man had struck at him from behind. Only the quick instincts that had aided in his endeavors to collect artwork had protected him, causing him to duck out of the way.

A quick turn had shown him a man in jeans and a black T-shirt. Kira looked on incredulously when he realized that his attacker wasn't wearing any shoes. Or socks for that matter… How had they not captured this man?

The answer came to him immediately. The only way a person would be able to get past the police in a museum would be if that person was a member of the force or a fellow thief.

"Who are you?" the Kira within him demanded, voice sharp.

The other man didn't answer him, simply training his black eyes on him. Light felt uncomfortable but continued to move forward as Kira. Something… didn't feel right.

"Who are you?" he repeated, wary of what this new stranger might do to him. The other had already tried to attack him – it wasn't outrageous to think he'd attempt to do worse.

Kira had been about to speak again when the other man finally responded.

"I am L."

Light's eyes widened in surprise; "L?" he asked dumbly. Then, regaining his bearings, he narrowed his eyes at him. "What's the greatest phantom thief in all of Japan doing in a small museum like this?"

The oddly-postured man stared at him. "Kira should know," the man said blandly. "Because Kira is about do to the same thing."

Light scowled. "You can't have this painting," he said, almost childishly. "It's mine."

L simply stared at him. "Kira has not yet taken it."

"Kira," Light said, feeling odd speaking in third-person. "Is about to."

The strange man continued to stare, taking two steps forward. "Kira has not yet taken it," he repeated.

Light narrowed his eyes at him. "It's _mine_," he hissed, not wishing to lose his prize.

L frowned. "As I have said before, Kira has not yet taken it."

The shorter of the two thieves simply scowled at the man's words, moving towards the painting, not taking his attention off of the opposing thief.

"I'm taking it now," he told L, wary of the other. "So you can bug off."

The infamous phantom thief had his eyes trained on Kira as he took down the fairly-sized painting. It was a square the size of a foot, and without the frame, it was smaller still. Kira carefully placed the painting between two sheets of treated wax paper to ensure it wouldn't be damaged. This, he placed into a portfolio of sorts and straightened out, his eyes still on L.

"I'm going now," he informed the other, backing away.

L, apparently disagreed, taking a step forward for each step Light took away. "Kira has the painting L is supposed to take," he said.

Light frowned, a bit confused by the other's odd behavior. "Yeah, and?" he asked, puzzled.

"L must take the painting from Kira."

"Like hell you are," Light snarled, turning tail and fleeing, the painting secured in his arms. Irked by the other, he purposely set off the alarm as he left.

L, who had moved to escape immediately as the alarms went off, couldn't expend the energy to think about Kira as he left. Later, though, he'd begin to seek out all he could about the man.


End file.
